It was dark, damp, and cold. It smelled of mildew and mold. A drop of water coming from a crack in the grey stone fell to the floor with a loud Drip. The skeleton in the corner was a bit unwelcoming, with rats still gnawing at the bones.. Honestly the cell was miserable. And yet, here he was. It was fitting he guessed, and ironic. Drip. That was going to get annoying. An entitled, selfish, rich brat like himself destined to rot in prison. All because his father threw him out. Threw him out like a dog onto the streets of Mercada. Drip. He moved his hands through his dirty, dark hair as he thought of what his father had done to him. All because of that horrid woman. His wife to be, Belca. Drip She wasn’t ugly, in her looks, but her soul, her Veyder, was black. She was selfish, snooty, and incredibly ignorant. Then again, so was Auro. Drip.
Auro. His messy, black hair wasn’t down to the floor, it was above shoulder length, and was always combed back, except now, as he had nothing to comb it with. He hated when his hair wasn’t combed. It felt unnatural. His blue eyes weren’t piercing like icicles or deep like the ocean, they were just a regular old blue. He was just a normal kid living life, the best life you could have in Mercada, really, his family was rich, and he was always comfortable. But when he turned eighteen, he was expected to marry. Like any boy, he had a dream girl, but he didn’t know her. He had seen her a few times while in the market, but never spoke to her.
To anyone else she was just a normal, ordinary girl, but to him… To him she was the one. Her dark hair was always tied in a ponytail when he saw her, down to her waist it flowed like a black river. His mind drifted. He came back to thoughts of his father. Auro hated that man. He gave Auro everything in life after his mother died from a rare heart sickness. She just “Stopped living”, according to his father. Auro learned not to believe everything his father told him, but his mother’s death was something Auro knew he never lied about. Auro knew his mother and father were arranged to be married, and that his father was a cheating bastard, but he did love his wife. Auro wasn’t surprised that his father frowned upon him when he denied Belca’s hand. Auro would never have married her. Not after seeing that girl. That girl whose name he didn’t even know.
Did his father seriously believe Auro could survive on the street by himself? It was barely a week before he was caught stealing an apple from the market. The extravagant, bustling, crowded, loud, dirty markets of Mercada. Auro hated them. He hated the hot red sun always beating down on the stone in the summer, and the yellow sun in the winter, making it impossible to walk on barefoot. He hated the loud merchants trying to sell cheap and overpriced valuables. But most of all, he hated the idea that he would have to live there one day. He knew that his father would throw him out the moment he heard Belca was to be married to him. He knew he would turn down her hand and he would be shamed. His family, the Guyiers and Belca’s, the Whalons were two of the wealthiest families in Mercada, and were expected to be married. Of course, in the scheme of things, Mercada was a very poor city, so they were not very important in the eyes of the larger cities.
It was always Auro’s dream to make it to Droughton Empire, the largest city on the continent of Lorca. He heard of the politics, and of the great minds battling each other with their words. He wished he could just see it… He was snapped back to reality by a loud Drip. He looked at the crack in the wall.
“Can’t even keep the jails in good condition, eh?” he asked. He didn’t know who. Himself he guessed, until someone answered.
“You think they’d spend money on us?” A deep, calloused voice said from him cell next to him.
“Of course not!” another voice exclaimed, this one higher pitched, and had a foreign accent. It sounded like it came from the same cell though.
“No… I guess not.” Auro looked around his room. It was small, ten by ten feet. No way two people would be able to survive in one cell. There was a small barred window almost nine feet above the ground. They weren’t taking any chances with someone getting out, but two people could easily reach it. “Who are you two?”
“Does it matter?” The second voice said.
“What are you in here for, kid?” The gruff voiced asked.
“For grabbing breakfast to go,” Auro answered in a sarcastic tone. “You?”
“You’re in here for stealing? Ha, I guess they’d put anyone down here nowadays.” The deeper voiced man chuckled under his breath.
“Usually it’s just people like us. You must be a special lad. Or just really unlucky.”
The voices where definitely from the same cell. “You didn’t tell me what you’re in here for.” Auro reminded, wondering why the men were surprised by his crime.
“Tax Evasion, to be technical,” The first man laughed heartily. Auro became very confused. Tax Evasion? Was that a horrible crime? Was the gruff man answering for both of them? “But in reality they put me down here for stabbing my father in the throat a few times. But that’s not my fault. He told me to.” The gruff voice said.
The high Voice chirped up “You knew what you were doing! You were in control, not me!”
‘That explained it thought Auro. Of course he had a cell next to a murderer. And apparently he was batshit insane. Auro was sure the voices were one in the same.
“Got him on Tax Evasion ‘cause they couldn’t prove I did it!” The high voice laughed “But they sure as hell tried. Still if I hadn’t listened to you we wouldn’t be in this hell hole.” The gruff voiced chuckled. Maybe this guy’ll be getting out soon. Would that be better or worse for Auro? To live with an insane person, or go insane by himself.
“How long have you been in here?” Auro asked, hoping to get an idea of what his sentence might be.
“About ten years, I think. We lost count awhile ago.” The gruff voice stated. Auro almost choked from astonishment.
“Ten years!” He yelled.
“Ten years!” The gruff voiced yelled back.
“About five years ago we figured out no one ever gets out, if they’re put down here.” The high voice explained, the gruff voice added, “If we’re lucky, we’ll get fed three times a day.”
So, this was how he’d die: In a leaky cell. His dreams were dead. He’d never see Droughton Empire or see his dream girl again. He’d never speak to his father or Belca again. He’d never learn the nature of his Veyder, the lifeblood that ran through him. He’d never see anything but these walls of grey stone. At least, that’s how it seemed at the moment.
His thoughts were interrupted by the man in the other’s cell laughter, “Don’t worry about starving though, my friend! There are plenty of rats for the both of us!” His high voice laughed gleefully. Auro wondered whether he had been insane before killing his father, or if the murder broke his mind.
“Lunch should be here soon, my friend.” The gruff voice said.
“What’s on the menu?” Auro asked.
“I wasn’t telling you!.” The high voice yelled at Auro.
“Geoff! Be nice.” The gruff voice scolded, “It’s usually a mix of potatoes and bread. Sometimes they’ll throw in some meat though. Geoff and I have to share ‘cause the stupid guards don’t bring him anything. It’s mistreatment I tell you!” The gruff voice yelled and Auro cold hear the bars rattling as the prisoner shook them.
“It’s no use.” The voice called Geoff started, “They’re not gonna hear you, ya big lug.”
“Well they should still know!” He said.
“What do you think they’d do if they knew? Eh? Nothing! So shut your trap and sit down.” Geoff’s voice echoed throughout the stone walls of the prison, another loud Drip emphasizes the emptiness of the cells. Auro could hear the gruff voice mumble under his breath, then go quiet.
Auro broke the silence, “So what is your name?”
“Which one of us?” Asked Geoff’s voice.
“I’m Adalon. That’s Geoff. Not that it matters. Names are nothing in here.” Well that was good. Now he knew his cellmate’s name. Or rather, names. Auro honestly wondered who the real person was, which voice was the true one, most likely Adalon’s, from the sound of his name and voice. Auro thought of what Adalon said, about how names meant nothing. Auro’s name carried a lot of weight, at least outside of this cell. With his family an economic power in Mercada, and the reputation Auro had given himself as someone who doesn’t take well to not getting what he wants, he was fairly well known in Mercada. In tjis cell though, he was nothing. He was just another prisoner. What really irked him was, why was he put down here? He stole an apple! Was it really necessary for him to be housed with a madman, a murderer? That’s what he gets for not doing what daddy says. ’Marry for money, not love.’ Maybe Auro was selfish, entitled, and unfriendly, but he still had a heart.
His heart was got him in this situation. Had he just married her…
“So where’s this lunch you speak of Geoff?” Adalon asked.
“Me?” Geoff’s thick accent showing through, “You’re the one who said lunch was coming!”
“Well I’m still hungry!” Adalon yelled back at himself.
Auro thought to himself, ‘I hope I can survive this guy…’, and sat down against the wall. Another resounding Drip echoed through the prison.